Richmond Park London in the Autumn is a stunning place to visit to witness the rutting Red Deers. The magnificant beasts bellow and battle in the cold misty mornings. All these conditions add up to make it an ideal location for wildlife and nature photography.

Following my visit to Skomer Island in 2013, I just had to return for a couple of nights this year. Skomer is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire in southwestern Wales. It is well known for its wildlife: around half the world’s population of Manx Shearwaters nest on the island, the Atlantic Puffin colony is the largest in southern Britain. Overnight stays give you a great chance to see the Puffins at sunset, something you cannot see doing a day trip as the boats leave to early. Here are a selection of my photos, more can be viewed on my Flickr Photostream

I was lucky enough to win a day airside at London Heathrow Airport to photograph the aircraft, an opportunity not many get to do. All photos are click-able to high resolution images. For the full set please visit my flickr photostream

I was lucky enough to get a last minute place to stay on Skomer Island for 2 nights. The weather wasn’t great on the first day but really picked up at sunset then the 2nd day it was glorious sunshine with the added bonus it was a Monday and no boats come over so it was like having the island to yourself. The Puffins mainly gather at the Wick, there are thousands so you cannot miss them. As I stayed over night this allowed me to get up around midnight and head out for a walk in the dark to hear and see the thousands of Manx Shearwaters that comes back to the island once the sun has set. Amazing to hear the noise and see the masses flock back.

So on with the photos, here are a selection, there are more on my flickr photostream

I recently took part in a Kingfisher Workshop Day in Droitwich Spa which enabled me to get very close to wild Kingfishers feeding on the river. Using a combination of a Canon 1Dx with 70-200mm F2.8 IS L, 300mm F2.8 IS L for the diving shots and a Canon 5D3 with the new Canon 500mm F4 IS L MKII with x1.4 MKIII for the perching shots.

The day was very overcast for the majority of the time but towards the end of the day we got some nice golden light which complimented these stunning birds.

The day began around 9:30 when we entered the hide, firstly lining up for the diving shots using the 300mm. As you can imagine this type of photography is very pot luck as there are so many factors you cannot control. Lucky for use we were treated to some early visits by the birds however the dives were not ideal for the classic photo poses. We carried on until after lunch before we changed the set up for the low water level shots using the 70-200mm. Again very pot luck on where the bird exits the water, but I came out with some great shots in the end, which made it a good day all round.

My photos made the Daily Mailonline and also BBC Springwatch Unsprung on 30 May 2013 with this first photo.

I had heard about the location of some Adders in Surrey and having never seem a wild snake in the UK before I thought I’d go and explore to see it I could photograph these amazing reptiles which are the UK’s only native venomous snake.

Wild Adder Snake – Surrey

Wild Adder Snake – Surrey

Wild Adder Snake – Surrey

All photos were taken on a Canon 1Dx and a 300mm F2.8 IS L with either a x1.4 or x2 TC